Celebrations
by SmileyPhase
Summary: Of Life and Love-with its joys and conflicts-because they're both worth taking risks for.Chapter 3:Smiling, he said,“It’s the end of the week-There’s nothing left to do, and we’re all alone.Besides,there’s better things to do in a room than grade papers."
1. Celebration

Entry for DateMe (July)

**Title:** Celebration  
**Disclaimer: **Characters (and song) don't belong to me. I can only dream.  
**Rating:** K+ just to be safe. I think.  
**Warning: **First fic, un-beta'd and whatnot. Would really like some help…  
**Word Count: **1109  
**Summary:** Fireworks are always best watched with someone else. Funfunfun.

* * *

"But I won't hesitate no more,

no more, it cannot wait

I'm yours"

"I'm Yours" – Jason Mraz

The sky was still tinged with the last rays of the sun, with streaks of orange and purple mingling. Faint sounds of laughter and conversation drifted through the air, momentarily louder as the door opened and closed, revealing a girl in a red yukata.

She looked around, once, twice, to make sure no one had noticed her departure. With a relieved sigh, she settled down on the porch leading to the garden, unpinning her hair and letting it hang loose. Pearl-gray eyes closed in momentary rest; she relaxed to the sounds of the water running nearby.

"Hinata?" Startled to hear a male voice so close to her, she opened here eyes and stared into clear blue eyes.

Rearranging her face so that her surprise didn't show as clearly, she tilted her head back to see the person better. Blond hair, blue eyes, tall, well-built (she would not go farther than that), wearing a dark blue yukata. Only one person could fit that description.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked, wondering what he was doing at the flower garden in the Hyuuga compound. "Are you here for the party?" She didn't think that he would come so soon after he had just come back, but it was a party for all chuunin and above…

"Well, I didn't really want to come, but since apparently everyone else is in there… why aren't you in there?" he replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Er…" Hinata blushed and looked down again, thinking how nice it was that he was in a yukata (really, dark colors looked much nicer on him than orange, although that was…an interesting color scheme, to say the least). "It was getting hot in there, and well, it was kind of boring… Plus, there wasn't going to be any fireworks."

He looked at her, wondering whether fireworks were that important to her.

Feeling the weight of his stare on her, she started to blush and fell into her old habit of poking her fingers together. Trying to cover up her nervousness, she began to speak quickly, "A-ah, well, we – that is, Neji and Hanabi and I would always watch the fireworks and w-well, they were scheduled to be today, but w-we were supposed to be inside the r-room and s-so I don't think that t-they could come o-out, but I thought that the fireworks were going to start soon and –––" abruptly, she clasped her hands to her mouth, realizing that she was rambling, and blushed even harder when Naruto started to laugh.

"Was that why? Oh, well, then, that's easily fixed. Come with me." And without preamble, he took her hand in his and began to insistently pull her towards the gate. "Come on! You said that you wanted to see the fireworks, right? Well, there's this tree that's got the _perfect_ view…"

But Hinata zoned out after that, almost shuffling behind him automatically while she smiled at his enthusiasm for all things, even for something like fireworks. And then her attention focused on the fact that he was holding her hand. Holding her hand! As if it was perfectly ordinary to do something so intimate so easily.

She was so busy thinking about the fact that even their fingers were intertwined that she missed it when he looked back at her, wondering why she was so quiet. He started to ask her if something was wrong when he saw the way her eyes were half-closed in contentment and her lips were turned upwards at the end. He wondered absently whether she smiled like that all the time, and almost felt a surge of resentment towards Neji for being able to see her more than he did. (Which was not true in fact, she had almost become his shadow after he returned, and had he ever turned around, he would have seen the same smile more often than not.)

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Hmmm?" Startled, he turned around and she bumped into him, almost knocking him over by their combined momentum. He automatically reached out and caught her arm as she wobbled back and forth, and then she was steady.

"Ah, thank –––" Once again, her reply died in her mouth as she realized how close she was to him, and how intently he was staring at her. She thought that she would faint again by being this close to him, with his breath mingling with hers, and holding her on both sides.

He leaned an inch closer, and pressed his lips softly against hers. The kiss deepened and she leaned forward to put her hands in his hair. Neither noticed when the fireworks were lit, only wondering at the sensation of another's lips and how it felt oh-so-good. When they pulled back (almost reluctantly), Naruto was scratching his head and stammering "Oh, sorry so much! That was well, um, an –––" but was cut off again by another kiss.

"Haha, t-that felt good," was her response while she waited for him to say something. As the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more nervous, wondering oh-my-god what had she done, and so pointed at the sky, "Oh look! F-fireworks! I always wonder what th-they're celebrating…" She wondered why he hadn't spoken (in the back of her mind the voice whispered that it was because _she_ had kissed _him_ and he probably was wondering why the 'shy, quiet weird person' had done that).

Finally trusting himself to look at her, he said "Well, they must be celebrating for us then, right?" and oh-so-casually put his arm around her shoulder. He felt relieved when she leaned into him, relaxing, and then both watched the rest of the fireworks.

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Author's note: help! Help! I am so confuzzled! I don't even know if a kiss would make the rating would go up, if it does, can someone help me with that too? First fic ever, would like some helpful pointers or anything you see fit to give me : (Reviews are good too…)


	2. Practice Makes Perfect

Entry for DateMe (August)

**Title:** Practice Makes Perfect.  
**Disclaimer: **Characters (and song) don't belong to me. But my birthday's coming up… ;)  
**Rating:** K+ just to be safe. I think.  
**Warning: **Still un-beta'd, because it'd be horrible to make others read (and try to understand) these stories.  
**Word Count: **1117 (not including song)  
**Summary:** Practice makes perfect, so the more the better, right? You just have to make sure you have the right partner…

* * *

Living might mean taking chances  
But they're worth taking  
Lovin' might be a mistake  
But it's worth making  
Don't let some hell bent heart  
Leave you bitter

--"I Hope You Dance" – Lee Ann Womack

The day was cool, with only a few clouds to block the sun's rays, providing ample shade for the ninja and his dog to run through the forest in relative comfort. Despite the beauty of the day, the young man seemed preoccupied, going on autopilot and disregarding the environment. The pair continued their random descent through the forest until Akamaru sat down abruptly and started wagging his tail. Brought out of his thoughts, Kiba stopped as well and sniffed the air to find the cause of Akamaru's joy. By his second sniff he had identified his long-time teammate, and by the fourth had concluded that she had also been in the forest for a time but was not yet tired. His fifth and sixth sniffs had brought to him the pleasant odor of her shampoo, as well as subtle whiffs of Shino and Naruto. So she had been following that idiot again. Jealousy rose within him, and he almost snarled at the thought of Hinata and _him_. Yet instantly, he was angry with himself for feeling that way about his two friends, and especially about his teammate – he should've controlled himself and stopped it firmly before it was too late.

He had always known that it was coming. The fact that he had fallen in love with his long-time teammate didn't bear thinking about, when the outcome was obvious. She only had eyes for a certain blonde that was rather color-blind…

He straightened from his crouch and figured that she had stopped by Shino's house on their day off, and had been shadowing Naruto for at least an hour before coming here.

"Kiba-kun! Hi! I was just, um, wondering where you were! I went to the market earlier to buy a bunch of stuff and dropped off a bento at Shino-kun's house. I w-was just wondering…since I-I um, made enough for four and so, here's yours. It has onigiri, and rice balls, and some v-vegetables, but there's also dumplings and dango and some pie and I wasn't quite s-sure if they tasted okay, because Shino-kun said they tasted fine, b-but he could be polite, and I gave you different t-types … do you think it t-tastes okay?"

He wondered what she was so nervous about – she had made them lunches before (which were extremely good, by the way), but this time her fear and worry was almost palpable, even without his enhanced senses. Kiba shrugged internally, and took the offered bento without a word. As always, it smelled delicious and was arranged in way that was aesthetic yet didn't mix up the different portions. He savored the smell, inhaling spices and a hint of cinnamon on the still-warm apple pie. "Mmmm, smells good to me," Kiba said, and proceeded to eating the dumplings, tasting beef and sausage and small pieces of onion and garlic. "Yup, tastes good. Are they all like this? You might want to put a little bit less salt… the sausage is pretty strong already. But other than that, it tastes pretty good. The pie is the best though…the cinnamon adds a taste of … well, good stuff. Haha."

After Kiba finished assessing the food, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief as he resumed eating. Taking out a smaller bento, (he glimpsed the last one buried beneath it, yet wrapped in protective foil to avoid scraping) she opened the lid to reveal dumplings and a large portion of steak. "U-um, I was planning on giving the last one to N-Naruto-kun… but I wasn't sure how to ask him, so could you h-help me?"

Fighting down the surge of anger and jealousy once again, Kiba could only trust himself to nod. He would help those two, because she deserved it, after all…

"Oh good, so this one's for Aka–eeep!" Her sentence was cut off as Akamaru reared and placed his paws on her, almost knocking her over. To her credit, she leaned back until she was settled and quickly put the bag containing the last bento softly on the ground to keep it safe. Once that was done in a couple of seconds, she did a twist to the side that freed her from Akamaru, leaving the almost seven foot dog (when rearing) leaning on empty air. Unfortunately, her maneuver placed her directly in front of Kiba, and he was too preoccupied with eating to move out the way. However, her 'eeep!' had warned him enough to place the food on the ground and quickly jump up to look around for what had caused her cry. His standing up made him collide with the already unbalanced Hyuuga, which resulted in her lying on top of him, both of them staring upwards with a vaguely confused expression before Hinata realized she was on top of Kiba. She began to twist around to ask if he was okay (causing the ninja below to start to sweat as the result of her fall had led her to be _right on top of him_, and her moving around on top of him was really not helping), and ended up placing her two hands on the ground near his shoulders after she had turned all the way around. She peered at him worriedly, her pale eyes searching his as her forehead touched his to check if he was still okay. (Kiba had, by now, stiffened from the proximity of their faces, and was blushing furiously, almost resembling a certain person nearby…)

"Kiba-kun?"

As Akamaru landed on the ground with the grace of a cat, while the two ninjas collided with each other, he started to eagerly pant and wag his tail, imploring Hinata to please-please-please give him the bento and nudged her in his efforts to be oh-so-subtle about his hunger. However, his nudge had unforeseen consequences….

The overgrown dog's nudge was more of a push to the two ninjas, resulting in an awkward (but enjoyable) kiss between the two. Two pairs of eyes widened, yet gradually fluttered to close as they enjoyed the unfamiliar sensation. When they finally broke apart, with Hinata jumping backwards and Kiba leaping to a crouch, both were breathless and flushed.

"Well," drawled Kiba, despite the fact that his heartbeat was jumping erratically, "since we _were_ on the topic of seduction and introduction, let's work on that kiss of yours… After all, practice makes perfect," and almost laughed as he saw Hinata redden even more (if that was possible), yet was undeniably pleased when she hesitated, then looked up at him and half-closing her eyes in an expression that made his heartbeat even more uneven, and drew closer for their first lesson, the lunchbox by their sides ignored in favor of a more…favorable pursuit.

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**  
Author's Notes:** Thank you so much to all of those who read it :D I wish I could... bake cookies and give em to you guys 3 Feedback will be very appreciated : Do you guys think I should continue these series of Hinataxsomeone drabbles? Or should I make them separate? Is this one too long? Does it make sense? Are there any errors that should be remedied? What'd you guys think of the story? (Sorry for so many questions .) (Ack. I'm in a quandary- should the title be Practice Makes Perfect, or Favorable pursuits? feh, I'm in a muddle...)

(Also, for those of you who have started school! (Like me) Or will start soon! Good luck! Don't be overwhelmed by the amount that the teachers tell you that you have to do! It's manageable... usually ;) Best of all, have fun! Reunite with friends! Try not to stress too much!) (RAWRR. is anyone else in IB?)

Thank you! to **SilentSinger948**, **Rose Bringer**, and **Fowl68**! : So glad that you guys liked it!! Hope I don't disappoint...

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	3. Temptation

"I can resist everything except temptation

Entry for DateMe (September)

Title: Temptation

Disclaimer: Characters still don't belong to me. I can only dream.

Rating: K+

Warning: …nothing, haha. Maybe suggestive comments, but that's it.

Word Count: 1924

Summary: Smiling, he said, "It's the end of the week…There's nothing left to do, and we're all alone. Besides, there's better things to do in a room than grade papers…"

"I can resist everything except temptation." –Oscar Wilde

Hinata had always had a gift for healing. Not like Sakura, the prodigy girl who was studying under Tsunade-sama, but still enough to have an aptitude for it. Still, it was never enough for her dad, who had always demanded perfection and the best. So Hinata had struggled and worked and learned as much as she could in order to make her father proud of her, and eventually wound up studying with Sakura at the hospital and being a nurse at the Ninja Academy in her spare time.

As a result, she became closer to the kunoichi as well as the teachers and students in the school. She was often the only one on duty when a young child came in, looking very pained and trying not to cry at the cuts that they had received during an impromptu sparring session. She always smiled inwardly at their cute expressions of I'm-trying-to-be-a-ninja-so-I-can't-cry-from-something-as-little-as-this, but it wasn't often that a teacher came in. So she was surprised when Kakashi-san came in carrying Mitsuki-chan with a bleeding knee. She had known Kakashi, mostly from stories by Sakura, and was interested in learning more about the enigmatic man.

Hinata hurriedly rose from her seat at the desk where she had been examining files and walked over to they crying child. "Kakashi-san, what happened? Mitsuki-chan?"

Kakashi looked sheepish as he awkwardly patted the young girl's back, "I was supposed to be looking after the kids for Iruka-san this week, and I turned my back for one second…"

She hurriedly stifled her laughter at Kakashi, taking Mitsuki-chan and placing her carefully on the small bed in the office. She gave her a candy and gently dabbed disinfectant on the wound, asking "So where'd you go Mitsuki-chan? How'd you get hurt?"

Mitsuki sniffled before answering in a teary voice, "I was trying to climb the gate…"

"Gate? To where?"

"To the forest… I thought I saw a really cool looking -hic- mushroom!"

"… Kakashi-san, _why was she so close to the Forest_?"

"Er, there was a training field nearby…?" Kakashi said, rubbing his head.

Turning away from Kakashi, Hinata told Mitsuki in a stern voice, "Mitsuki-chan, listen to me. That forest is a very dangerous place. Ninjas have gotten hurt in there, and there are creatures that live in there that are bigger than even Kakashi-san. You have to promise me that you will _not_ go back into the forest until a teacher says that you are ready to, okay?"

Looking at her substitute teacher, Mitsuki asked him, "Even bigger than sensei?", her eyes growing huge when he nodded. Turning back to Hinata, she nodded and said in a solemn voice, "I won't go back in unless a teacher says that I can."

Hinata patted her head, put on a bandage, and gave her a candy. "Now be a good girl, try not to get hurt, and when you use your kunai, make sure you're using it correctly, kay?"

Kakashi, still looking bored (albeit a little sheepish), turned and threw a mission scroll at Hinata and left before she could reprimand him for letting the children wander away.

Hinata frowned, and opened up the scroll, scanning its contents quickly. Luckily, it was just an order from Hokage-sama to continue working as the nurse at school for the whole week instead of the planned three days. 'Not that it really matters how long I work here…' she thought with a sigh, thinking of all the cute little kids, and a possibly interesting teacher.

As the next few days were fairly routine without any major accidents to break the mundane hours, Hinata found time to practice one of the more complicated techniques that Sakura had taught her – stitching a deep wound. She had to concentrate in order to feel the cartilage and skin of the dummy sliding together in the right layers without messing up their orders, or else the wound would heal wrong or become infected. After two hours of practicing, she was surprised to see that the she wasn't as tired as she normally was (a good sign that meant she was improving) and was relieved that no one had needed her attention while she was practicing. Getting up to wash her hands, she nearly jumped when she turned and saw Kakashi standing by the doorway. Peering around him to see if there was yet another injured kid, she was surprised that he was alone.

Her face must have shown a sign of surprise and confusion as he told her, "It's lunch time. You've been working for several hours without a break and you should eat."

Bemused, Hinata followed Kakashi out of the school until they had finally reached a small teahouse that served dango, soup, and onigiri.

They ate in relative silence, Kakashi seeming to enjoy the quiet peace, while Hinata peeked at him from under her eyelashes in between bites. He seemed to be content, so Hinata just shrugged and ate the rest of her dango. At the end of the hour, they walked back to the Academy where she politely thanked him for the meal and went towards her office. Right before she walked in, he asked her, "Same time and place tomorrow?"

She debated for a few seconds, then shook her head and walked inside. He squashed the feeling of disappointment in his chest, logically thinking that really, it was their first time eating lunch together and bound to be awkward, but evidently it was going to be a one-time thing, and maybe it was just him but he had enjoyed the silence, since all of the times he ate with his team were really quite noisy with Naruto's yelling and Sakura's moments of violence towards Naruto's head and Sasuke's moody silences, and oops was that one of the little kids that just left? So he hurried over to the classroom, grabbing the boy before he got out the window and hauling him in.

The next day, Kakashi debated whether he should go buy lunch somewhere else or hang around the school in the hopes of finding out what Hinata was doing for lunch. The question was soon solved as he literally bumped into Hinata, almost spilling the ebony bento boxes that she was carrying.

"Ah! Gomen, Kakashi-san! Oh, I'm glad that I found you. This one is for you… It's thanks for you treating me yesterday, and I heard that you always ate out for lunch, but I hope you're not allergic to anything…"

Smiling, Kakashi resisted the urge to kiss off the worried frown tugging on the younger girl's face, instead settling for ruffling her hair and earning a quiet squeak from Hinata. He turned and beckoned for her to follow him, jumping onto the nearest roof.

Dazed, Hinata blinked and then hurried to catch up with him, eventually following him on top of the Hokage monument. By the time she got to the top of the stone monument, Kakashi was already sitting down in a cross-legged position and opening the lid of the bento box and began to eat with chopsticks.

Hinata followed his example, sitting next to him and just eating as they watched the civilians and various shinobi jumping across the roofs or leaving for a mission.

They continued in this pattern for the next few days, alternating between home-made bento boxes (filled with sushi, rice, octopus, sometimes even pickled vegetables) and trying out the different tea houses around town to find who had the best dango or onigiri. Villagers who saw them thought that they seemed to enjoy themselves, but seemed to have a more platonic relationship of two teachers and friends having lunch together.

Although that was the case at first…Kakashi was having more and more trouble resisting the urges to kiss Hinata. Every time she blushed, or laughed, even the way her eyes lit up when he came near, each time was a reason for him to just corner her and –but no, he had to stop that thought. It wasn't appropriate for him to be thinking these things about a friend! So each time, he just ran his hand through his hair and tried not to look too closely at her lips. (Unfortunately he seemed to break it about thirty seconds after each resolution to not obsess too much about her…)

Unbeknownst to Kakashi, Hinata was having just as many problems as he was (although she showed considerably more restraint). Each time he ran his hand through his hair like that, she thought about what it felt like if she tried doing that. Each time he stretched, she would follow the line from his torso to his well-toned arms. And oh gods, that one time when they decided to do an impromptu spar session and by the time they were over and their clothes stuck to their bodies and he had taken his shirt off?! She was so surprised she didn't die from blood loss…

It was finally a Friday and the end of their shifts before Kakashi was able to go to Hinata's office which was thankfully empty. He leaned against her doorframe that would have let her eyes roam over his body if she was prone to thinking such things (which of course she wasn't), and if he stretched, then his shirt would start to ride up –with a jolt she realized he was talking to her and had to ask him to repeat what he said.

Bemusedly he asked her wasn't she hot in that jacket? She had never taken it off during the time that he had known her, but she was starting to seem to sweat and get red an awful lot… Flustered, Hinata began to stammer and try to come up with a reasonable excuse of wearing a jacket in above 100 degrees Celcius, and began to back away nervously when Kakashi came closer.

"Come on…it's not that hard…" he drawled as he stepped up to her and looked at her in a way that made her want to faint. "You just take the zipper, and pull like this," and demonstrated with her jacket (and wow she was pretty sure she was burning by now).

Despite the pleasant sensation of his feelings traveling down over her stomach, she feebly protested, "Kakashi-san, don't you have…papers to grade? Or um, st-students to look after?"

Smiling at her (with that predatory grin of his) he reminded her "It's the end of the week, Hinata… there's nothing left to do, and we're all alone. Besides, there's better things to do in a room than grade papers…"

Trying not to pass out entirely from his suggestive meanings, she weakly tried one more time, "A-ano, isn't a relationship between t-two teachers discouraged?"

Winking at her and pulling off her jacket (earning an eep from her, and an appreciative glance at what her jacket had hidden), "Ah, but you forget…I was only a substitute teacher, and now my time's over… and you were only going to be a nurse for a week, hm?"

"K-Kakashi-san… b-but, what if a student comes in? I-if – oh!" Kakashi had picked her up and placed her on the bed, turning back to the door and turning over the 'open' sign so that they wouldn't be discovered.

"I think we'll be busy for a while. There… Now we won't be bothered… and unless I was mistaken," he continued, daring her to protest again, "You seem to be overdue for a check-up…"

And for the rest of the day, neither Kakashi or Hinata were anywhere to be found.


End file.
